CH 142

Yu Bi was gone, and she didn’t tell what she knew before she left.

Lin Yuan had someone find a beautiful place to lay and bury her body to rest.

Towards the outside, it was said that Yu Bi passed away from illness, as no matter what the news of her death had to be made known.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e ir on tr ee bl oo ms. c o m )

Liu Yi was doing embroidery. Sitting next to her was Chu Lin. Both of them were rare beauties. Chu Lin arrived a few days ago and had been so busy he barely rested. It was not until now did he find the time to come to see Liu Yi. The two were sent to Lin Yuan’s side together, and their relationship was not far or close, but towards each other they were able to have a good chat.

Liu Yi saw that Chu Lin was drinking tea in silence, and asked him, “Looking so worried, what happened?”

Chu Lin smiled at her: “It’s nothing, it’s not a big deal.”

Liu Yi nodded and stopped asking.

Now they each had their own errands, and they had learned to speak in halves. If one  spoke too much there was always a chance of making a miatake, so it was better to learn to be a dumb and silent statue. This way they were much better off.

Chu Lin sat for a while. Right now he had nothing to talk about with Liu Yi. The two sat opposite each other, and the atmosphere became so embarrassing it made Chu Lin stand up abruptly: “I just thought of something I need to do, so I’m going now. It’s safe here but after a while, the outside world will become chaotic, so take care of yourself first.”

Liu Yi also stood up, and the two saluted each other before parting ways.

In the past, they had a feeling of sympathy, but shared no love of that found between men and women. Because they both possessed outstanding looks, they had never seen people like themselves since they were young. So when they saw each other, they felt that the other was no different from themselves. People coveted their beauty and never cared what kind of person they were inside. Over time, they also felt that they had only a face.

Or in other words, under that face, nothing else mattered.

Because others couldn’t see it, they didn’t care.

Liu Yi once said to Chu Lin: “If I hadn’t had this face, I might have married a man early and had a few babies. By now I might have even become a grandmother.”

Everyone desired to possess peerless beauty, but no one knew that a person’s treasure, whether literal or something like talent or beauty, would arouse the envy of others. For noble ladies, beauty was the icing on the cake, but for ordinary women, the more beautiful they were, the more difficult their lives would be.

“I thought about disfiguring this face back then.”

“But then I thought again, God gave me this, what wrong did I commit?”

So from then to today, she arrived at the side of the South Bodhisattva based on her beauty and became the Sister Liu in everyone’s mouth, the Beauty Liu in the mouth of outsiders.

In the past, those people used to speak frivolously in front of her, with loose hands and feet, but now when they stood in front of her, they all had to bow their heads in fear.

Liu Yi didn’t want to leave here, even if the South Bodhisattva asked her if she wanted to marry someone.

Why would she want to marry? If she married, she would have to leave the South Bodhisattva. Who knew what the days would be like after marrying? She saw too many men, but the best one was out of reach, and she was unwilling to settle for a lesser one.

Not marrying for her whole life. Many prostitutes outside were like this. The men spoke words of love and took them back home, but after a while they resented them for being dirty.

Why bother? Those prostitutes had no choice. Now that she had a choice, she didn’t want to go live her days pleasing men anymore.

If one day the South Bodhisattva really ascended the throne, maybe she could become a servant in the palace. When she got old and left the palace, she had a sum of money and could recognize a few godsons and goddaughters. So long as she held the money tightly in her own hands she was not afraid that they would be disobedient.

These days, Liu Yi embroidered patterns and did not mingle with others. She knew what she was like, and often she sighed. Sometimes, understanding one’s position in life is the most important thing. Don’t know how many people did not realize this truth even up to their deaths.

This day, as usual, Liu Yi was embroidering by the window sill, embroidering flowers, grass, and butterflies. When she was embroidering, she heard someone passing by.

She stood by the window to look, and saw that there was a group of people walking past, each wearing a helmet and armor, and holding sharp weapons.

When she was about to sit down again, she heard a thundering sound come from outside that traveled across the skies. Even the earth seemed to be shaking. The people who were sweeping outside stopped and looked up toward the direction of the city wall, but they only stopped for a moment before they began to continue doing their work.

Even Liu Yi sat down again to embroider.

The sound did not cut off, and the earth was still shaking, but her heart was calm.

After the servants finished their work, they packed up their things and went into the house to rest. One person poured a cup of hot water and talked while listening to the sounds.

“There are people outside fighting?” Someone took out two steamed buns from their bed and shared them with others, eating them with the hot water.

Another person said: “Don’t know which side it is.”

“Where else can they come from, Dadu right?”

Some people said to a tall fellow: “You don’t want to go out and have a look?”

The big man was a Mongol. His family had never been wealthy before. Later, unrest and chaos spread over the land and their family fled. Originally, they wanted to go to Dadu, but of course they didn’t arrive. They then heard that the South Bodhisattva treated Mongolians and Han people equally, unlike the rebels in other places who killed them on sight. So his family took a gamble. With this bet, their lives were saved.

Go back to Dadu?

Maybe others want to go back.

Because the blood that flowed in their veins belonged to the grassland, even if they didn’t even have a horse of their own before.

But they couldn’t go back. They couldn’t go back since they stepped into the territory under the reign of the South Bodhisattva.

The big man chewed his bun in silence. He didn’t know what other people thought, but he didn’t want to go back to the grassland.

He heard from his elder that they used to rely on the heavens to make a livelihood on the grasslands. The cattle and sheep in the family had to be offered to the clan patriarch above. The family could only keep a little bit. The grasslands lacked everything, lacking salt and sugar. If they encounter natural disasters, or come across wolves, the family’s livelihood would be gone in an instant.

After arriving in the Central Plains, they finally knew that life could actually be so good.

Herd some cattle and sheep, and so long as one didn’t go deep into the mountains, there would be no danger, one could also farm the land, and there was salt sold everywhere.

Han people always had a lot of novel things.

The jewelry they made, even if they were made of wood, was incredibly well-crafted and even cheaper.

They heard that the Central Plains was good before, but that was just rumors.

When they really came, they didn’t want to leave at all.

The big man chewed the buns. He spoke Chinese well, so he told them, “I don’t want to.”

What was the point?

Should he help the Han fight his own people, or should he help his people fight the Han who were kind to him?

The grassland placed importance on the distinction between kindness and grievances, but the distinction between kindness and grievances was now unclear.

He wanted to live a good life and let his parents live a good life, marry a girl, have several children, and have the whole family stay together.

Several other people chattered: “I wonder what the situation is like outside?”

“What are you afraid of? With the South Bodhisattva, could they be able to break through the city walls?”

“That’s right, the South Bodhisattva has the blessing of heaven, and we are blessed by the South Bodhisattva. What’s there to be afraid of?”

The more they talked, the more excited they became.

“If it wasn’t for the fact that I didn’t grow strong enough in my mother’s womb, and didn’t grow into a strong man, I would also charge out today and fight the enemies to the death!”

Others laughed: “Come on, with your meek courage, you would only be a lamb to the slaughter.”

The big man sat listening on the side.

He thought, the South Bodhisattva was a good person. The Mongols who defected to him had not been discriminated against. Everyone could live a better life than in the hands of the emperor. The Han people did not bully them, and their children could also attend school together with the Han children and bear the lecturing from the teacher together.

If the South Bodhisattva won the empire, they would not be driven back to the grassland, right?

The big man took a sip of hot water.

Looking out the window in a daze, once upon a time they had sat looking toward the fertile land of the Central Plains from the grassland.

Later, they entered the Central Plains and became the masters, thinking they could occupy this place forever.

But just how many years have passed since…..

——

Outside Hanyang City, Wang Baobao returned to the tent in the military camp. He was bloodstained and his long knife was worn. He didn’t know how many people he had killed. He just remembered that each of them looked at him with the same eyes.

Those people didn’t seem to be afraid of death. The look in their eyes before death was not fear, only resentment and ridicule.

They seem to be saying: “I will be waiting for you in the underworld.”

The soldiers of the Southern King…..

The soldiers of the Southern King were terrifying.

On the battlefield, one not only fought with swords and guns, but also with will. If you feel fear and take a step back, even if it was only one step, the will of the military would dissipate and the line of defense would be broken.

All of the soldiers of the Southern King were not afraid of death.

As if they were not here to fight.

They were all lone warriors clear that they would die, but even so they must kill the enemy before they died.

Wang Baobao looked at his officers.

There was already fear on their faces.

They had never seen such soldiers before.

How could there be soldiers who were not afraid of death at all? Just before a battle, before the swords truly met, how many of them could remain unshakable?

Wang Baobao sighed.

But in any case, they could not withdraw at this time.

They had no retreat, they could only plough forward.

Wang Baobao ordered: “The whole army will rest and attack the city tomorrow morning!”

Victory or defeat would be clear tomorrow.

——

Lin Yuan couldn’t sleep. He was sitting at the desk with a cup of strong tea in his hand. No one could fall asleep tonight. He stood on the city wall all day. Hearing countless battle reports, lives becoming just a number, estimation of deaths and estimation of the wounded.

All he could do was to be there and oversee the battle. He looked down the city wall, only able to see the heads of countless people moving, some falling, some still standing, and constantly killing.

Er Liang came in with hot water, he lowered his head and whispered, “Young master, it’s time to soak your feet.”

Lin Yuan looked at Er Liang.

Er Liang had grown up, the little boy who cried back then had grown into a young man now.

When they were wrapped in a worn quilt and fumbled for the bank notes in the run down temple, they didn’t expect that they would have today.

Lin Yuan rubbed his temples, and said to Er Liang, “Put it there first.”

Er Liang put down the water basin and stood behind Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan wanted to say a few words to Er Liang. He opened his mouth, but didn’t know where to start. After a while, he said softly: “You don’t need to wait here, you can go.”

Er Liang responded and withdrew from the room.

Lin Yuan closed his eyes, the faces of many people flashing in his mind, those who once followed him but have now died on the battlefield.

Those who talked about making achievements and declared to follow him all their lives.

Those who said that once they had a child they wanted the child to serve as a soldier.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e ir on tr ee bl oo ms. c o m )

Lin Yuan leaned on the chair and let the tears slip from the corner of his eyes.

When the sun rose tomorrow, he would still be the South Bodhisattva with a smile on his face and confidence in his chest.

Anyone could fall, but he couldn’t.

TN: aiya, sorry for the confusion, I seem to have mixed up the dates when scheduling the posts. Here’s a double update to make up for it!